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Report: Christmas start to 2020-21 gaining steam

Field Level Media

October 23, 2020 at 5:52 pm.

A push to start the 2020-21 NBA season on Christmas Day is gaining momentum, the New York Times reported Friday.

A start date was just one item on the agenda at Friday’s meeting of the league’s Board of Governors, along with discussions about fan attendance amid the pandemic and the possibility of playing fewer than 82 games, ESPN reported.

While a Dec. 25 start with a full holiday slate of marquee games would please the league’s television partners, sources told ESPN that some teams are targeting a mid-January launch instead.

Last month, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said his “best guess” was that the season wouldn’t start until early 2021.

The NBA has made a vow that players would get at least an eight-week notice before the start of the season. Oct. 30 would be exactly eight weeks before Christmas Day.

“The goal for us next season is to play a standard season, 82-game season and playoffs. In home arenas, in front of fans,” Silver said.

The NBA became the first pro league to suspend play amid the COVID-19 pandemic, doing so on March 11. The league finished a shortened season in a bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando.

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